FAI announce friendly against Oman in Craven Cottage

The Football Association of Ireland on Wednesday announced that Ireland will face Oman in an international friendly fixture at Fulham Football Club’s home ground Craven Cottage, on Tuesday 11th September. This game will be the first meeting between the two sides.

Oman ranked 92nd in the world by FIFA has already started their qualifying campaign for the 2014 World Cup. They lost their last qualifier 3-0 to Japan so their upcoming friendly internationals against firstly Egypt and then Ireland will be vital to restore team spirit.

Ireland starts their qualification campaign four days before this friendly against Kazakhstan. Their next opponents are group favourites Germany, so for the Irish management team this game against Oman could be used to test out options in advance of entertaining the Germans at the Aviva Stadium on the 12^th of October.

 The Republic of Ireland has previously played two friendlies at Craven Cottage and with Fulham regulars Damien Duff and Stephen Kelly in the Irish squad, we will at least have two players that count it as a home venue.

Commenting on the match, Stephen Kelly said: “Everyone knows the Republic has the best supporters in the world, so we are expecting there to be a great atmosphere and are looking forward to welcoming Oman and their fans to Fulham’s home ground.”

Giovanni Trapattoni also welcomed this friendly. “I am looking forward to returning to Craven Cottage for this match which will be a useful opportunity to prepare further for our World Cup Qualification campaign,” he said.

Oman’s current manager Paul Le Guen, an ex France International, who has also managed Lyon, Rangers and Paris Saint-Germain, said: “This match will be a good test for both teams and Craven Cottage is a fantastic Premier League ground that will add to the occasion.”

Oman should have at least one familiar face in their line-up for Irish viewers of the English Premier League. The Wigan goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi is expected to start and given his performances for the perennial relegation contenders, the Irish strikers could be in for a frustrating night.